Daily Republican., 1887-11-01
AU Q. saNAroxs vARn.

OcuhtOT IhlTueF, Oh hlcnlRhn, mas n
great f.rm. and 80 well has he stocked
II that II is place Of great interest to
farm and stock fanciers. We make
some extracts from Frank g. Carpen.
ter's letter In regard 10 it:
No one but millionaire Senator
could afford to own place like Sena.
tor Palmer's Font Hill farm. The 657
acres, more than a square mile of land,
lie within four miles of the most fash.
ionsble part Of the city Of Detroit.
Woodward avenue. which ranks with
Euclid avenue In Cleveland as one of
the two most beautiful residence streets
in the world. runs by this farm, and
an electric railway carries you within
a short walk of the house. The farm
is worth a fortune, and another fortune
has been spent upon it. A quarter of
a million dollars would not buy the
land alone al current prices, and tena-
tor Palmer's farm manager tells me
that Sl00 600 has been spent within
the past four years in its improvement
The farm now contains twenty miles
OF tile undertaking, and its many
fields are oined with two miles OF iron
water pipe, through which the great
windmill at the barn sends a Constant
ly flowing stream OF well water. There
are drinking troughs in every field,
and no field Is without its clump of
trees 10 form shady resting place for
stock.
The stock there kept is OF the purest
blood, and Senator Palmer believes
thai In this day Of specialtles no farm
er should try 10 keep more than one
breed OF fine cattle or horses. lie has
confined himself TO Jersey COWS and
Percheron horses, and he went to
England and France to import the
best animals he could find as q basis
for his farm. The result is he stands
at the head Of the Percheron horse
breeders OF the United States, and the
French government has given him a
gold medal for owning the first Per-
cherons In the country. He is presi-
dent of the Percheron Horse Society OF
the United States, and made speech
to a convention OF the breeders OF the
finest horses in France during his late
foreign tour. He has sixty Percheron
horses and seventy Jersey cows.
Many of his horses are worth 81 900
and upward, aud some of the cows
WI, run very high into thc hundreds,
His stations are named aher the
famed marshals Of France, and their
weight is immense. Marshal Lannes,
only years old, weighs /, $40 pounds,
and another marshal, at only year
and a half. tips the beam at 1850,
while brother of his. only 10 week
old (less than months), weighs zoo
pounds.
| / asked Senator Palmer how he
came to choose the Percheron in pref
erence to other breeds. He replied:
'It was from a painting. wa:
making a study Of the horse when
saw Rosa Bonheur's 'Hors. Fair and
was greatly struck by the action ant
looks OF the horses there pictured.
aiterward saw the horses in Paris
France, where they were used as the
omnibus horse. Then they wer,
worth an ordinary price; now tn,
American demand for them has rur
their price In France from $500 up t.
l$1, 600, and the omnibus men of PAri
have had to use Normans."
Then the Percheron horse is not {
Norman
| mo replied Senator Palmer, 9Th,
Norman is coarser, slower, heavier ant
less enduring. The Percheron hors,
| is the result OF cross between tn
Arabian and the Norman. In m,
lstudy Of him l noticed that he has per
lfect digestion, enabling him to do |
great amount of work on little food
He has a perfect temper and don't fret
He Is full OF intelligence and saves hi
strength, and men treat him better o'
account OF his intelligence than the,
would a duller horse. His skin i
thin, his hair fine and, combined witt
1.-THE strength of the Norman, he ha
better blood, bone and wind. and hi
Arabian blood gives him all of tn
nimbleness and speed of the Englisl
coach horse Last year more tha
I$3, 600, 900 worth OF these horses wer
Imported, and between January an
May of this year we brought owe
Il 81 $50, 600 worth. One of the lsrges
importers is a man named Dunham
near Chicago, who has made hlmsel
u millionaire by bringing Percheron
from France to America, and who nov
Imports hundreds of thousands of dol
lars worth yearly. bought my firs
horses from Durham, and then wen
to France myst If and imported others.
| In company with the Senator
walked through his barns, took loo
at his COW stable, rode over the farm
land dined with him at the old farm
lhouse.
The colony of barns would make a
ordinary farmet's eyes bulge out witt
wonder. The buildings alone hay
, cost u.ore than $4,000. There ar
acres OF yards and buildings, and a
much care almost is taken OF the com
tort of the stock rs would be take
We're they so many babies in thei
Iswaddling clothes. The ventilatio
of the horses' stables is perfect, and 8
arranged that draft cannot strike th
. horse nor the light shine in his eyes
There are stalls for about seyent
horses. Each horse has his own stal
on which Is his name in printed le
tiers, and the history of each steed
kept in a sort OF horse book or eques
ltrian record.
The Senator's COW stables woul
dwarf Pennsylvania bank barn
they were placed beside one. The
cons,itute a two-story building, eac
floor of which has an area as large Q
that OF city lot, forty feet front an